The invention relates to an extrusion process for the formation of leavened dough products. The invention further relates to leavened dough products with improved characteristics.
Businesses involved in commercial food production and distribution generally must use efficient production processes to provide food at a reasonable cost. In addition, these businesses consider the food characteristics such that the food is desirable to a significant number of consumers. While consumers desire food with appealing taste and texture, they also demand food products that are simple and fast to prepare.
Extrusion processes for the formation of food products offer an efficient and cost effective approach for the formation of both cooked (hot extrusion) and raw (cold extrusion) food products. Raw extruded food products may be subsequently cooked following extrusion. Traditional products produced by cold extrusion include, for example, pasta. Extrusion processes, however, necessarily have certain characteristics that suggest the types of products that can be effectively produced by way of extrusion. In particular, extrusion processes push the ingredients, often under significant pressure, while moving the food product up to and through a die. Thus, extrusion processes are particularly suitable for the processing of dense products. Because of high pressures in the extrusion process, extrusion generally is not suitable for the production of less dense, breadier doughs. These products generally are most successfully prepared by conventional cooking approaches such as boiling, baking and frying.
With respect to approaches for preparing food, microwave reheating is an approach that is desirable to consumers because of its speed and convenience. However, reheating of products in a microwave oven can result in alteration of the texture of the product relative to the texture produced by conventional cooking and heating approaches. In particular, dough products generally experience altered texture upon microwave reheating.